Split beef mixture in half and then half again. With each of the four portions, split into quarters again, leaving you with 16 portions.

Roll each portion into a ball and place in slow cooker.

Pop the lid on and cook for 5 hours on MEDIUM.

After five hours, remove lid, give a bit of a stir and throw in freshly torn basil leaves.

Put the lid back on and cook for a further 30 minutes.

Serve.

Notes

I couldn’t resist stirring these at about 3 hours, just to make sure they were cooking evenly.

I made this dish because someone told me the rice ‘popped’ out and spikes appeared- this didn’t happen for me? I might have needed to use a short grain instead of medium grain rice.

However my boys loved these meatballs and gobbled them down in minutes. My eldest also thought Christmas had come when I cut one in half the next day and gave him a ‘sub sandwich’ for lunch with grated cheese on top.

Because rice is inside the meat, I served this with a big vegetable salad and a slab of warmed Turkish bread.